Expert Short Story Editing & Proofreading Services
Conceiving a story is one thing—crafting it to enthrall your audience and convince an editor to publish it is another. You need a team of smart, narrative-focused professionals who can ensure every detail of your short story aligns to achieve your vision.
Our expert editors:
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Possess 50+ years’ combined fiction editing experience
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Boast editing expertise across the full range of genres and subgenres
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Are full-time employees of DLA (no freelancers)
Want your short story to be published?
I’m very satisfied with the editing services they provided. I have to say I had a bunch of sample edits and no one came close to the depth edit Terry did. She is great and I’m so grateful for her help. I had 35,600 word manuscript and she gave me a developmental edit turn around time 4 weeks as she said. and almost 2,000 comments and edits. Im making my manuscript ready for a copy edit by Terry thank you
Melissa Medina, Hartford, CT
We love hearing your stories.
FICTION GENRES
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Action Adventure
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Bildungsroman
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Children's
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Crime/Detective
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Dystopian
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Epic
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Fantasy
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Flash Fiction
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Historical
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Horror/Paranormal
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Humor
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Literary Fiction
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Magical Realism
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Mystery
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Mythopoeia
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New Adult
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Realist Literature
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Romance
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Science Fiction
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Short Story
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Speculative
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Suspense/Thriller
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Theological
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Travel
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Western
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Women's Fiction
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Young Adult
DLA provides a top-notch editing service. They provided me superb guidance on making my writing good to great. I had my first book edited, and the publishing industry widely acclimated it. Now I'm working on my second book.
Douglas Grady, Los Angeles, CA
We love hearing your stories.
Manuscript Evaluation
Not sure if you have a viable project or what level of editing you need for your manuscript?
Our Manuscript Evaluation includes a positive, respectful read-through of your manuscript and in-depth feedback detailing its strengths and weaknesses, ways to improve its marketability and the level of editing required.
It provides a big-picture guide for further developing your manuscript, covering:
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Pacing and Flow
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Structure and Organization
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Clarity of Ideas
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Setting and Historical Context
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Point of View
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Prior Plot Events
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Characterization
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Character Backstories
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Mechanics
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Narrative Voice and Style
Developmental Editing
Ready to collaborate to achieve your goals for your manuscript?
Our Developmental Editing starts with a 30-minute consultation to get to know you as the author and your experiences, motivations, vision and timeline for your project.
We follow this with a thorough, in-depth review of your manuscript, as well as a follow-up consultation, to help you achieve your vision.
In our in-depth review, we make edits and provide feedback to address issues in:
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Pacing and Flow
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Structure and Organization
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Clarity of Ideas
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Setting and Historical Context
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Point of View
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Prior Plot Events
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Characterization
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Character Backstories
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Mechanics
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Narrative Voice and Style
Copyediting/Line Editing
Ready to fine-tune your manuscript?
Our Copyediting/Line Editing provides a detailed, line-by-line edit of your manuscript. It covers:
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Consistency, Engagement and Clarity of Writing Style and Tone
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Consistency and Clarity of Settings, Characters and Plot
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Word Choice (Denotation, Connotation and Rhythm)
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Repetition/Redundancy
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Sentence Structure
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Flow and Transitions
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Punctuation and Grammar
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Typographical Errors
Proofreading
Ready for an agent or publication?
Once your manuscript has been through the developmental editing process and been copyedited, you're ready for proofreading.
Proofreading provides a last check of your manuscript to identify any last items needing correction. It covers:
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Grammar and Punctuation
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Typographical Errors
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Formatting and Layout
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Repetition/Redundancy
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Sentence Structure
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Flow and Transitions
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Punctuation and Grammar
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Typographical Errors
WHAT FILE FORMATS DO YOU ACCEPT FOR YOUR SHORT STORY EDITING SERVICES?
We accept short story manuscripts for editing in MS Word only. If you use a word processor other than Microsoft Word, such as Pages, don't worry. Most word processors, including pages, are fully compatible with MS Word. In your word processor, you can save your short story as an MS Word file to send us for editing, then import the edited MS Word file we return to you into your word processor to review our edits on your short story. It's that easy!
For those who use Pages, see the full details of Pages' compatibility with Microsoft Word here.
I HAVE A COLLECTION OF SHORT STORIES I WOULD LIKE TO PUBLISH AS A BOOK. WILL YOU HELP ME FIND AN AGENT OR PUBLISHER FOR THEM?
Through our short story editing services, as well as our editing services for outlines, synopses and query letters, we will do everything we can to help ensure your success in finding an agent or publisher for your collection of short stories.
Want your short story to be published?
I PREFER TO SELF-PUBLISH MY COLLECTION OF SHORT STORIES AS A BOOK. WHAT SELF-PUBLISHING SERVICES DO YOU RECOMMEND?
Many of our clients taking the self-publishing route have used Kindle Direct Publishing (formerly called CreateSpace) and been happy with their choice. At the same time, there are a lot of self-publishing companies out there offering a variety of packages and services, so make sure to shop around to get exactly what you are looking for.
WHAT IS THE TURNAROUND TIME OF YOUR SHORT STORY EDITING SERVICES?
Our turnaround times are as fast as the next business day with Normal Delivery and the same business day with Rush Delivery.
We offer Normal Delivery, Express Delivery and Rush Delivery delivery options to meet your needs. The specific turnaround time for editing your short story will depend on the editing service you select, your short story's word count and the delivery option you choose.
Get Started to see the specific turnaround time for editing your short story.
DO YOU GUARANTEE YOUR EDITING?
Yes! We guarantee that we will provide you with high-quality, affordable editing and proofreading services, and that we will finish our work by the due date and time we've promised.
If you find any errors in our work, we will happily provide you with a free second proofread or edit according to the original service and original instructions for the service. Requests for free second edits must be made within thirty (30) calendar days of project completion.
For AP, APA, Chicago, MLA and Turabian styles, we guarantee every proofreading and editing correction will adhere to the style requested and will be able to be supported with specific references to the requested style's manual.
See our 100% Satisfaction Guarantee for additional details.
Want your short story to be published?
HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN IN BUSINESS?
We've been in business since 2008.
The Editing Process: How Our Service Works
Step 1: Get Started
Whether you’re just looking for a free instant quote or are ready to purchase our services, start with Get Started, available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week:
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Under Select Your Category, choose Writers.
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Next, select your project type (Short Story), genre (and sub-genre, if any) and service (e.g., Developmental Editing).
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Now upload your file to be edited (or, in the case of Manuscript Evaluation, to be evaluated), or enter your page or word count. Our quotes for fee and turnaround time are calculated based on word count.
To get the most accurate quote, or to purchase a service, upload your file to be edited or evaluated. We accept MS Word files only for Short Story to be edited or evaluated. Your word count(s) will be automatically calculated and displayed next to your uploaded file.
Alternatively, enter your word count or page count to get a quote.
The page count option is good for getting a ballpark quote. It uses an estimated number of words per page (250), and so is less accurate than uploading your file or entering your word count.
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To finalize your quote, select from Normal Delivery, Express Delivery and Rush Delivery.
Please note that the displayed turnaround times are calculated based on word count. To get the most accurate quote, make sure to upload your file to be edited or evaluated.
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Confirm your quote. To order the service, ensure you have uploaded at least one file to be edited or evaluated, add any comments (e.g., if there is a particular style guide you would like us to follow; by default, we use Merriam-Webster Unabridged Style Guide), enter a project nickname and click Add to Cart.
Step 2: Check out
Once you have added your service to the cart in Step 1, proceed with clicking Checkout.
In the checkout process, you will:
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Log in to your account or create an account if you do not already have one.
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Enter your goals for the service.
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Verify the delivery dates for the service.
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Complete your payment for the deposit or total order amount. We accept credit/debit cards and PayPal.
Step 3: Track Your Order in My Account
As soon as we receive your deposit, we will start working on your order. While we are working on your order, the status will display as In Progress in My Account.
Step 4: Receive Your Edited Short Story
As soon as we have completed our editing or evaluation, you will receive an email notification, and the status of your service will be updated in My Account. If there is a remainder due, your next step will be to pay it to receive your edited Short Story or manuscript evaluation.
Edited documents and manuscript evaluations are released once the total fee for the service(s) in your order has been paid. Edited documents and manuscript evaluations are both sent by email and made available for download directly from My Account.
The email containing your Short Story or manuscript evaluation will provide the name and contact information of the editor who completed the service for you. It will provide a link to instructions on how to review our edits, including how to accept and reject track changes and to remove sidebar comments..
The email will also provide a link for submitting your edited Short Story or manuscript evaluation for a discounted second edit or evaluation, should you desire.
Editor name and contact information along with the second edit link will also be posted in My Account.
Step 5: Follow up With Any Questions
If after reviewing the edits made to or our evaluation of your Short Story you have questions about the editing or evaluation, please contact your editor directly by email. You may expect to receive a response to your email within 1 business day.
If after following up with your editor, you still have questions your editor is unable to answer, feel free to email our editor in chief, David Lombardino.
Step 6: Leave Us a Review
We are passionate about helping you achieve your goals, and hope through our editing or evaluation and answering any follow-up questions we will have helped you get one more step closer to doing so. We are proud of the work we do and would love it if you shared your honest experiences, positive or negative, for future clients to see.
We partner with TrustPilot, a third-party review service that sends email invitations to leave a review to all verified customers a few days following completion of the service. We hope that if you have any concern remaining when you receive this invitation, you reach out to us first so we can address your concern, prior to leaving a review.
Our goal is a five-star experience for every customer, and we look forward to achieving this for you.
From plot and character development to dialog that is poignant and fresh and the twists that will engage your audience, we know what it takes to get the details right—and your short story ready to hook the editor.
Still have questions? See a list of our frequently asked questions or give us a call at 877-454-4957.